Last Sunday, November 13, five Asahi Nihongo students went to the city of Yame to participate in the Kinma Race, which is also called “All Japan Kinma Championship”. During this race, teams of five have to pull a sledge with rice-filled sacks over a distance of 42 meters.

This year marked the race’s 24th iteration, and the winner had the chance of winning 300,000 yen!

Our school’s motto for this tournament was “Rock me Amadeus”, which we also used as our group name. As one might imagine, our students wore the adequate (and self-made!) clothes for this big event. Do they not look fabulous?

The tournament was divided into two different categories: “ladies” races in which only women could participate and general races with men-only or mixed groups. Teams in the “ladies” category had to pull a sledge of 200 kg,  whereas all other teams had to pull 400 kg.

While watching the first races of the event, our students practiced a little dance, which they would have to perform right before their race.  They danced to the well-known song “Rock me Amadeus” by Austrian singer Falco. The result looked great and the audience also liked it a lot.

   

The moment of truth – our students got ready for the race of their life!

Unfortunately, they lost against their competitor. Nevertheless, they were interviewed by a famous comedian from Fukuoka after the race. Our racing time was published right after that – 34.21 seconds! Nice work!

   

For the rest of the day, everyone enjoyed the festival and relaxed with delicious snacks and drinks.

After the performance of a marching band, the end results were published. Although we did not win the prize money, everyone had a great day experiencing a unique event. Next year, we will definitely make it!